https://www.scmp.com/rss/324972/feed Hong Kong democracy activist Howard Lam claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by two Mandarin Chinese-speaking men on August 10, 2017. He was later arrested on suspicion of misleading police. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A member of Hong Kong’s pan-democratic camp was jailed on Thursday after he lost his appeal against the conviction of misleading police by making up a report about being kidnapped, drugged, and tortured by mainland Chinese agents who punched staples into his thighs. Mr Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang refused Howard Lam Tsz-kin’s appeal and sent him to prison to serve his five-month sentence. Lam had been out on bail. Defence counsel Joe Chan said his client was going to appeal to a higher court. “I am... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3078158/hong-kong-pro-democracy-activist-howard-lam-sent-jail?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3078158/hong-kong-pro-democracy-activist-howard-lam-sent-jail?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2020 10:36:56 +0000 So it turns out Democratic Party stalwart Howard Lam Tsz-kin told a crock of lies about being kidnapped from a busy Hong Kong street in broad daylight and tortured by mainland Chinese agents operating beyond their jurisdiction. Anyone with an iota of intelligence and basic cognitive functions could have told you that from day one – as I did, in this very space, 19 months ago – but not the luminaries of this city’s China-hating, pan-democratic opposition movement. They all stood behind Lam at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3002007/howard-lam-kidnap-case-hong-kongs-version-jussie-smollett?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3002007/howard-lam-kidnap-case-hong-kongs-version-jussie-smollett?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Mar 2019 13:54:52 +0000 Democracy activist Howard Lam Tsz-kin accused internet users of bullying him and insisted on his innocence on Saturday, a day after a Hong Kong court ruled that he had lied about being kidnapped and tortured with staples by mainland agents. While Lam, 42, is out on bail pending an appeal, two sources told the Post that the Democratic Party founding member could face an internal disciplinary investigation after all court proceedings were completed. He was given a five-month jail sentence. Since... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3002005/democracy-activist-howard-lam-calls-critics-bullies-pigs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3002005/democracy-activist-howard-lam-calls-critics-bullies-pigs?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Mar 2019 13:28:19 +0000 Democracy activist Howard Lam Tsz-kin made up a report about being kidnapped, drugged and tortured by mainland Chinese agents who punched staples into his thighs, a Hong Kong court ruled before jailing him for five months on Friday. Acting chief magistrate So Wai-tak said immediate imprisonment was the only sentencing option given Lam, 42, had shown no remorse for making up lies that would cause the Hong Kong and global community to believe mainland Chinese agents had abducted and tortured a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3001853/howard-lam-lied-about-being-kidnapped-and-stapled?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3001853/howard-lam-lied-about-being-kidnapped-and-stapled?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Mar 2019 07:42:55 +0000 Democracy activist Howard Lam Tsz-kin has a case to answer over allegations he faked his own abduction, a Hong Kong court has ruled. Acting chief magistrate So Wai-tak made the decision after hearing evidence that the puncture wounds and cane marks found on his body were likely to have been self-inflicted. The magistrate ruled that Lam, 42, has to answer to one count of knowingly making to police a false report of commission of any offence, after prosecutors concluded their case with the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2181405/democracy-activist-howard-lam-probably-fired-staples?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2181405/democracy-activist-howard-lam-probably-fired-staples?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:46:11 +0000 Hong Kong prosecutors have withdrawn evidence centred on the online search history of democracy activist Howard Lam Tsz-kin, on trial for faking his kidnap and torture, after the defence raised concerns of potential prejudice. Prosecutor Ken Ng Kin-man on Tuesday announced that he would not use the information against Lam, following complaints that it was irrelevant. At issue were two internet links: one to a Wikipedia entry on chloroform, and another on a local Chinese news report on the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2181255/hong-kong-activist-howard-lams-online-search-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2181255/hong-kong-activist-howard-lams-online-search-history?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jan 2019 23:30:31 +0000 Hong Kong police found democracy activist Howard Lam Tsz-kin travelling by himself at a time when he claimed to have been abducted, after identifying him by his walking manner and appearance through repeatedly watching 1,800 hours of security footage, a court heard on Monday. Two officers testified to studying Lam’s appearance, built and gait and comparing them with videos showing a man in black walking with his toes pointing inward to conclude they were the same person after multiple... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2181069/security-footage-shows-democracy-activist-howard-lam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2181069/security-footage-shows-democracy-activist-howard-lam?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Jan 2019 13:31:19 +0000 A democracy activist who claimed he was kidnapped, drugged and tortured by mainland Chinese agents after being snatched off a busy Hong Kong street in broad daylight was following a premeditated plan, prosecutors told a court on Friday. But, Howard Lam Tsz-kin, 42, a founding member of the Democratic Party, has denied making a false report after telling detective police constable Wong Kai-pui during an interview at Queen Mary Hospital on August 11, 2017, that he was abducted on Portland Street,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2180744/democracy-activist-who-claimed-he-was-kidnapped-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/2180744/democracy-activist-who-claimed-he-was-kidnapped-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jan 2019 10:00:30 +0000 It was a story that stunned Hong Kong. Last August, a little-known democracy campaigner in Hong Kong, Howard Lam, told a hastily arranged press conference that Chinese agents had grabbed him the day before and tortured him overnight.  With cameras rolling, Lam settled his tired frame into an office chair and pulled up his shorts, revealing more than a dozen metal staples that he said the agents had driven into his thighs.  They did it to send a threat, he said. The images and his shocking... https://www.scmp.com/politics/hong-kongs-bizarre-disappearances/article/2137362?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/politics/hong-kongs-bizarre-disappearances/article/2137362?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Mar 2018 10:15:15 +0000 A Hong Kong democracy activist who claimed mainland Chinese agents kidnapped and tortured him by punching staples into his legs told a court on Tuesday that he was an innocent victim and denied making a false police report. Democratic Party founding member Howard Lam Tsz-kin, 42, was accused of knowingly making a false report to officer Wong Kai-pui at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam on August 11 last year. The Kowloon City Court heard Lam told Wong that he was abducted at the junction of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2137013/i-am-innocent-victim-democracy-activist-howard-lam-tells?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2137013/i-am-innocent-victim-democracy-activist-howard-lam-tells?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Mar 2018 09:09:04 +0000 The charge against a Hong Kong democracy activist who claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by mainland Chinese agents has been changed to one of making a false report of a crime, four months after he was brought to court under the initial charge of misleading the police. Democratic Party member Howard Lam Tsz-kin, 42, posted a photo of a document on a social media platform on Tuesday afternoon, saying that he received a notice earlier that day from police about the change. The document, titled... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2120996/charge-against-hong-kong-activist-who-made-kidnap-claim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2120996/charge-against-hong-kong-activist-who-made-kidnap-claim?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Nov 2017 01:51:15 +0000 As the war of words between the North Korean and US leaders threatened to spin out of control, ordinary people could only watch, as a belligerent pair hell-bent on seeing who was the bigger playground bully nearly put millions of lives at risk. Running parallel to being faced with “fire and fury” such as the world has never seen was the unfolding of horror at the tragic events in Charlottesville. The world witnessed the leader of the free world unable and unwilling to use the right words, even... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107250/what-trump-and-hong-kongs-democratic-party-can-teach-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107250/what-trump-and-hong-kongs-democratic-party-can-teach-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Aug 2017 01:32:35 +0000 “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy,” a wise man once wrote. Is that the story of Hong Kong’s pan-democrats? There used to be a time when they were seen as a meaningful opposition force to counter some of the shoeshiners, sycophants and rubber stampers in the pro-establishment camp that has always dominated the city’s legislature. Not any more. Not only are they becoming more irrelevant and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107154/are-hong-kongs-pan-democrats-finished-staplegate-sign-times?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2107154/are-hong-kongs-pan-democrats-finished-staplegate-sign-times?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Aug 2017 05:45:30 +0000 A democracy activist who claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by mainland Chinese agents was released on bail but barred from leaving Hong Kong as he appeared in court on Thursday to face a charge of misleading police. Kowloon City Court rejected Democratic Party member Howard Lam Tsz-kin’s request to be allowed to travel to the United States later this month to study theology at Yale University. Lam, 42, was not required to enter a plea on one count of misleading a police officer. He was... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2107144/hong-kong-activist-court-allegedly-misleading-police-kidnap?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2107144/hong-kong-activist-court-allegedly-misleading-police-kidnap?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Aug 2017 03:45:00 +0000 Democrat Howard Lam Tsz-kin’s strange tale over the past week has made the camp’s battle against the government’s controversial West Kowloon border checkpoint plan even tougher, political watchers say. Several pro-democracy lawmakers, mostly from the Civic Party, have argued that the kidnap and torture claims made by Lam would erode public trust over the so-called co-location plan, which will allow national laws to be enforced by mainland officers in part of the West Kowloon terminus of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2107078/howard-lam-saga-will-make-pan-democrat-battle-over-west?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2107078/howard-lam-saga-will-make-pan-democrat-battle-over-west?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Aug 2017 10:46:29 +0000 A democracy activist who claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by mainland Chinese agents in Hong Kong was charged on Wednesday night with misleading police after his story unravelled during their hunt for evidence. Howard Lam Tsz-kin’s case will be heard in Kowloon City Court on Thursday morning, but he will not make an appearance as he remains in hospital after complaining of feeling unwell. Lam held a press conference last week claiming that he was pushed into a van in Yau Ma Tei on... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2107003/evidence-recovered-officers-investigating-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2107003/evidence-recovered-officers-investigating-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Aug 2017 05:30:30 +0000 Hong Kong Democratic Party veterans tried to put up a brave front on Tuesday after one of their founding members who claimed mainland agents abducted him was arrested on suspicion of misleading police. But they struck a different tone from the full support they pledged Howard Lam Tsz-kin at a press conference they held for him last Friday that “revealed” how he was allegedly kidnapped, tortured and then dumped on a beach. Instead, they insisted investigations ought to be completed before saying... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2106943/democratic-party-defensive-after-footage-and-arrest-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2106943/democratic-party-defensive-after-footage-and-arrest-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:02:18 +0000 Police might look into Howard Lam Tsz-kin’s mental state and whether the staples on his legs were an act of self-harm by a man suffering from depression who attempted suicide in the past, the Post has learnt. The revelation came after detectives found the crosses stapled onto the democracy activist’s thighs had been punched in so neatly, without any scratches or other bruises, that they doubted his claim that his abductors had held him down against his will to punish him for not loving his... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2106939/police-may-look-mental-health-hong-kong-democracy-activist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2106939/police-may-look-mental-health-hong-kong-democracy-activist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Aug 2017 00:00:15 +0000 The saga of the alleged abduction of a Democratic Party activist has taken a new twist, with the “victim” arrested on suspicion of misleading the police. According to surveillance camera footage reviewed by investigators, Howard Lam Tsz-kin safely left a busy street in the heart of the city alone last Thursday, contradicting his claims that he had been kidnapped by “mainland agents” in broad daylight. Barring further developments, it appears that Lam and his party will have to fully explain... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2106950/full-explanation-needed-torture-claims-howard-lam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2106950/full-explanation-needed-torture-claims-howard-lam?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:31:13 +0000 There I was, minding my own business in Mong Kok, a district teeming with mainland tourists, sex workers and shady bars when Putonghua-speaking goons shoved me into a vehicle in broad daylight and took me to goodness knows where. When I came to, I had been stripped down to my underpants. My abductors taunted me about not loving the motherland, then punched staples into my thighs. Does that pass as torture? The terrorists holed up at Guantanamo will know. Hours later, I found myself fully clothed... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2106916/hong-kong-pan-democrats-dig-themselves-deep-hole-over-howard-lam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2106916/hong-kong-pan-democrats-dig-themselves-deep-hole-over-howard-lam?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Aug 2017 10:49:57 +0000 More damning discrepancies have appeared in a Hong Kong democracy activist’s story about being kidnapped from a busy city street and tortured by mainland Chinese agents, after he was ­arrested early on Tuesday on ­suspicion of misleading police. Opposition politicians who rallied behind Democratic Party member Howard Lam Tsz-kin also faced questions about their credibility for projecting his case as evidence of the city’s freedoms being undermined by Beijing. Lam claimed he was pushed into a van... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2106685/hong-kong-democrat-claims-police-leaked-info-media-gave?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2106685/hong-kong-democrat-claims-police-leaked-info-media-gave?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:45:00 +0000 Extraordinary allegations require extraordinary evidence. Democratic Party member Howard Lam Tsz-kin claimed he was abducted in broad daylight and tortured by mainland agents. If true, it’s not only an outright criminal act but also a direct challenge to the “one country two systems” formula that governs Hong Kong. But it’s difficult for people to know what to make of his very serious allegations because the case has been deliberately politicised. After Lam was let go, he didn’t call police or... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2106653/let-police-investigate-democrat-howard-lams-torture-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2106653/let-police-investigate-democrat-howard-lams-torture-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Aug 2017 17:45:45 +0000 The Hong Kong democrat who claimed mainland agents kidnapped and tortured him in the city rejected allegations that his story was a scripted charade, as he pledged to quit the local political arena for good. The remarks by Howard Lam Tsz-kin came after pro-establishment legislators challenged the authenticity of his account made on Friday, which renewed fears the “one country, two systems” principle has been eroded. Lam said he was abducted by mainland agents in Yau Ma Tei on Thursday, pushed... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2106632/hong-kong-democrat-howard-lam-rebuts-his-kidnapping-claim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2106632/hong-kong-democrat-howard-lam-rebuts-his-kidnapping-claim?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Aug 2017 10:33:02 +0000